Heart Failure | Symptoms & Causes
What are the symptoms of heart failure?
Symptoms of heart failure may include:
- Fast breathing
- Shortness of breath or heavy breathing
- Feeling more tired than usual
- Needing to take frequent rest breaks while playing with friends
- Falling asleep when feeding or becoming too tired to eat
- Lack of appetite
- Poor growth
- Swelling of the legs, ankles, eyelids, face, or abdomen
- Nausea or vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Cough or lung congestion
- Sweating
What are the causes of heart failure?
Heart failure can happen in children born with congenital heart defects.
Other conditions that may cause heart failure include:
- Cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats)
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Diseases or infections of the heart valve, including bacterial endocarditis and rheumatic fever
Heart Failure | Diagnosis & Treatments
How is heart failure diagnosed?
If your child’s doctor suspects heart failure, he or she will ask you about your child's symptoms, get a complete medical history, and examine your child. Your doctor may order a chest X-ray to see how large the heart appears.
Your doctor may also order one or more of the following tests:
- Chest X-ray
- Echocardiogram (cardiac ultrasound)
- Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG)
- Blood tests to help determine what caused the heart failure
- Treadmill or bicycle exercise tests can test heart function during exercise stress
- Biopsy to check for disease or infection
How is heart failure treated?
Treatment for heart failure will depend your child's age and the cause and severity of the condition. Treatment options may include:
- Medications to help the heart pump more effectively, to relieve congestion and edema, or to slow down the heart rate
- Ventricular assist device (VAD), a battery-operated pump that works with the heart to improve blood flow
- Surgery
- A heart transplant
What is the long-term outlook for children with heart failure?
The long-term outlook depends on what caused the heart failure. Some children with heart failure have a complete recovery of heart function. More often, heart failure is a chronic condition. The good news is that we have several ways of treating and controlling chronic heart failure.
How we care for heart failure
The Benderson Family Heart Center at Boston Children's Hospital is the largest pediatric heart program in the United States. We provide a full range of care for heart failure, from diagnostic assessment to interventional therapy using cardiac catheterization and cardiac surgery.
Our staff includes more than 80 pediatric heart specialists who provide care for thousands of children with heart conditions each year, ranging from the simple to complex.
